On the Ball (new Football Focus)

[Rhinestone Cowboy]

Tottenham 0 Liverpool 8

I wish Quids was here this week for his usual prediction.

Pretty sure he would approve of this score line.

[mockney piers]

Oh SimonM, predicted that scoreline from you!! ;-P

[matthew123]

The answer Keef is for Referees to uphold the letter of the law by cracking down on this behaviour. The survival of good football is more important than that of any Club looking to bend the rules with unsporting tactics.

We can talk about players having the right to choose which Clubs they want to play for and having freedom of movement but where does that fit into it when we allow the kind of football to develop that increasingly puts the careers of players in jeopardy as a result of strong-arm survival football?

[Mick Mac]

I just have not got a clue who will win the Premiership. Its too difficult this year. Agree with MP that if Chelsea had Hiddink thay would be big favourities.

Don't fancy MU this year. Just think that last year there 13 games without conceding a goal won it for them. Loss of Tevez will be important not just Ronaldo.

Liverpool I think could win it if they continued their tactics from the last 1/3 of last season but you don't know what Rafa is going to do next.

Arsenal, I suspect they will do well if they can secure a top striker to replace Adebayor before the end of season, but have not seen them linked to anyone and that concerns me.

I think Arshavin will be the player of the season and the team with the best player is often not far off.

I'm drifting towards betting on Arsenal.

[Sandperson]

Uited all the way. Suprise prediction from me. MM you summed it up, it's not all about goalscoring it's being able to defend to and now Rio's got his holidays out of his system it's a two horse race between United and Chelsea.

[matthew123]

For what position in table would that 2 horse race be ... as I fancy Chelsea to be competing for title :))

[mockney piers]

Wow first managerial scalp of the season gone already. No hanging around there.

Ooh, norwich's Bryan gunn btw

I wonder if those chaps will get their season tickets back now

[Mick Mac]

Gunn - thats absolutely amazing. Unbeaten pre season then 2 games played , won 1 lost 1. Sacked!

Rash of headlines:

"Gunn gets the bullet"......

[mockney piers]

Gunn fired shurely?

[SimonM]

So who will be the 1st premiership manager to get the boot? And which month will it be? It could still be Hughes if Man City don't make a flying start.

[matthew123]

I find it odd the EU has not clamped down on this cross promoting by Sky and EPSN for the new season. I thought the purpose of breaking up the PL rights was for the benefit of the consumer but instead the consumer is now being fleeced by having to pay an extra ?9 p/m to get the additional PL matches not shown on Sky.

I know this shoddy carve up has being going on for 2 years under Setanta but now it seems Sky are working in cahoots with ESPN. How else can you explain ESPN having a HD channel on the Sky platform when it was previously denied Setanta which in my opinion was one of the main reasons Setanta did not have the customer base to survive with it's inferior standard definition broadcast.

[Mick Mac]

you can buy espn on its own on channel 34 matt and on virgin or bt without paying anything to sky. I think. Hence it can be a separate product to extent.

[Sandperson]

I have several friends who work on the braodcast side of Sky and I know for a fact they are sh*tting themselves about ESPN getting into the Prem League. The only advanage Sky have is that they run the platform.

[????]

Just got back from hols, kids to bed, pizza and beer to be ordered abd then placed in my tum - little time for proper analysis but early season sees strikers like Torres on top of their game and defenses all at sea, like Bentley in a Porsche, I think whoever Liverpool are facing at the weekend are in for an 8 goal thrashing......

Back to a proper competition....West Ham V Millwall BRING IT ON...on the scrounge for tickets first thing tomorrow

[Sharon_H]

???? Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Just got back from hols, kids to bed, pizza and

> beer to be ordered abd then placed in my tum -

> little time for proper analysis but early season

> sees strikers like Torres on top of their game and

> defenses all at sea, like Bentley in a Porsche, I

> think whoever Liverpool are facing at the weekend

> are in for an 8 goal thrashing......

> >

> Back to a proper competition....West Ham V

> Millwall BRING IT ON...on the scrounge for tickets

> first thing tomorrow

Oh thanks for putting the mockers on us.

And I don't mean Mockney Piers.

[Mick Mac]

welcome back quids. We are all ready for the big kick off. I have invested in sky and am tipping arsenal for the title. No money on yet though.

[Keef]

Alan Hanson has predicted Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U, and Arsenal hanging on to 4th. I'll take that, although I'm not sure you can write off a team with 3 titles in a row. Also, Lawro makes a worrying point about the loss of Alonso meaning Gerrard may have to go looking for the ball more, which could take some sting out of the pool... At the end of the day, predictions are all rubbish, lets just enjoy it!

[????]

Man United to win, pushed by Chelsea

Another year of hurt for Liverpool (they couldn't win it with Alonso)

Arsenal....nah

Man City, no european commitments but not this year

Hammers 13th or 14th

[Mick Mac]

Chelsea not looking too convincing for 70 mins but played with more width after Deco came on and looked much more threatening then with a lot more width. Got a late winner through a cross cum shot from Drogba so will be glad they have made it through this one. Honest of Drogba to admit it was a cross in post match interview.

Chelsea top in England

Celtic top in Scotland....they looked strong and Arsenal willbe worried.

[matthew123]

Now that Alonso has departed Liverpool it turns out that after all these years he was actually world class and the heart beat of the Liverpool team - of course whilst in a red shirt he was generally considered by the media as being similar pedigree to Gareth Barry.

Alonso was a top player and they'll miss him for certain games (e.g. when Agger is not playing like tomorrow) but with the loss of Alonso is means you do get a bit more mobility going forward - the bigger blow for Liverpool is swapping Arbeloa for Glen Johnson not to mention a ?14m net loss.

On paper Liverpool look weaker than last season (as do Man U and Arsenal), but the positive for Liverpool is that much less chopping and changing of players took place this summer compared with previous years, so they should click into gear sooner than usual.

[????]

...and if Gerrard or Torres gets injured?

[Mick Mac]

I have backed Arsenal at 7.6 on betfair, so I'm an Arsenal fan this season. A smaller bet on Chelsea. But its Arsenal for me. I had chosen them but noticed their odds had come in 2 full points on betfair just for their first half performance against Everton, so I have placed my bet in a rush.

Obvioulsy I'm confident Celtic can put up more of a fight than Everton.

[Annasfield]

I am NOT laughing at Everton >:D

[????]

Not a draw today and with Spuds destined for an 8-0 thumping and Man U surely too good for Brum, then we may have a drawless first set of games.

Performance of the day, Aresnal, but Wigan surprised me too...oh, and nice one Irons

[SimonM]

Congratulations to Arsenal on topping the table (so glad I picked Fabregas for my Fantasy team!) So......what odds now on Moyes being the 1st premiership manager of the season to get the Spanish Archer??:))